Mr & Mrs Smith

Lau’s Family Kitchen, at 4 Acland Street, (03 8598 9880) offers delicious Cantonese food in a laid-back yet sleekly seductive contemporary space. In the George Hotel complex, the Melbourne Wine Room (03 9525 5599) serves modern Italian food with wonderful whites, reds and rosés by the glass and bottle. Down on St Kilda Beach, Stokehouse (03 9525 5555) at 30 Jacka Boulevard, combines fine-dining upstairs with a casual ground-floor beach bar and grill.

A cosy little bar in a birdcage-type enclosure inside The George Hotel complex, Mockingbird Tapas Bar (129 Fitzroy Street; +61 (0)3 9534 0000) is perfect for an after-dinner cocktail.

A great place for a coffee and cake or a sandwich, Il Fornaio (2 Acland Street; +61 (0)3 9536 1111) is also the perfect place to pick up picnic supplies. Its fridge is full of ready-prepared, take-home items such as tarts, frittatas and sandwiches made with home-baked bread.

Rollerblading along the esplanade is popular in summer, and you can stop along the way for a drink, an ice-cream, a swim in the bay or a dip at St Kilda Sea Baths (www.stkildaseabaths.com.au). Luna Park Funfair, on the Lower Esplanade, opened in 1912 and its enormous laughing-face façade and rollercoaster structure is a National Trust-protected icon of St Kilda. Entry is free, but you have to pay for rides.

If it’s shopping you’re after, then St Kilda is a great place in which to max out your credit card. On Fitzroy street, Hoss (Shop 3, 135 Fitzroy Street; +61 (0)3 9537 0933) stocks a enviable list of labels from international and Australian designers. Schmik Fashion (165 Fitzroy Street; +61 (0)3 9525 3134) is home to unique labels from around the globe including the oddly beautiful New Zealand Merino Mink, made from merino wool and possum fur. Schmick’s own-designed leather products are cool and colourful – think midnight blue knee high boots and studded belts.

And it’s not all fashion. Surround Interiors (1–3 Inkerman Street; +61 (0)3 9593 8744; www.surround.com.au) fits out some of the coolest places in town. Walk into its showroom and inspired. The Bitch is Back (100A Barklay Street; +61 (0)3 9534 8025) is a treasure trove of retro furniture. Every Sunday throughout the year, the Esplanade Market (www.theesplanademarket.com) showcases works from around 200 of Victoria’s finest artists and craftspeople, who also sell direct to the public.